Wise words from the Rev. Dr. David Ferner:

CONNECTED TO WHAT? 

So many of us feel disconnected these days…from each other, from G-d, 

from creation, and even from ourselves. Many factors have contributed to 

this reality and it would take many essays to speak to it. Certainly, the 

pandemic exacerbated our sense of detachment, but seeds of this 

perception have probably always been true of human experience. In more 

recent times we have seen the breakdown of the familiar as families, 

friends, and acquaintances have spread out across the world, no longer 

living in tight, small neighborhoods with inescapable connection. Our lives 

as humans have become more nuclear, especially over the last couple 

centuries and that makes us lonely and longing for deeper connection. 

We aren’t going to change these physical realities. It is more important that 

we reorient our thinking – our perceptions – our longings. In a new book, 

Why? The Purpose of the Universe, Philip Goff, an agnostic by admission, 

speaks of a purposefulness in the creation of the universe. While he tries 

not to use the language of religion, he writes of a life force in everything in 

the universe, from the smallest inanimate object to the most complex and 

conscious – humans. If we carry his thinking to a conclusion, it says that 

we are connected to everything that is. Our longing is a natural outcome of 

wanting to be one with all that is including, for those of faith, with the One 

who is responsible for the universe’s soul force. It means we are 

connected, with each other, with all that we see, hear, and touch, and with 

the Holy One. We don’t need to go seeking connection because we are, by 

nature, connection because of this soul force. The task for us all is to 

cultivate this reality and deepen what already is. 

Rev. Dr. David Ferner